NEWARK — “You’re glad I’m here,” Wynonna said to an audience member last night in the Midland
Theatre. “I’m glad to be anywhere. It’s a freakin’ long way to get here.”

“Wynonna’s Rockin’ Christmas” featured the country-pop singer’s wit, wisdom and wonderful
pipes in a great holiday concert. For 90 minutes, Wynonna and her five-man band, the Big Noise,
performed some of her hits interspersed with seasonal songs.

Among those was the opening song, Leonard Cohen’s
Hallelujah, which Wynonna belted out in a voice that went right through you. Then came a
rockabilly version of
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and the hard-rocking
Let’s Make a Baby King. Wynonna also did a rock version of
Sleigh Ride and a fun twist on
Merry Christmas Baby, which was redone as
Merry Christmas Ohio.

Later, the Big Noise went acoustic on excellent bluegrass renditions of
Go Tell it on the Mountain and
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.

“The reason I do a Christmas tour is because I can, it’s a free country and I’m a believer,”
she said. Wynonna said that her sister Ashley is a liberal and her mother Naomi Judd is a
conservative, and she described herself as a Pentecostal.

Wynonna showed her wild side on her version of Elvis Presley’s
Santa Claus is Back in Town and her hit
No One Else on Earth.

While there were times on
White Christmas and
The Christmas Song when Wynonna would drawl too much, she kept that bad habit to a
minimum. When she’s singing strong and straight up, on songs like
Only Love and
I Want to Know What Love Is, few can match her passion or power.

Wynonna wasn’t the only one to receive a standing ovation last night – her husband, Cactus
Moser, was back to playing drums less than three months after having his left leg amputated
following a motorcycle accident. “We’re trying to turn this mess into a message,” Wynonna said.

Wynonna left her fans with some good news — she’s back recording again, and this time “with
an attitude.”

Also deserving a mention is the Midland, which is celebrating its 10th season back in
business. The theater originally opened in 1928, then closed because of damage from the blizzard of
1978. It was vacant for years until purchased in 1992 by Dave Longaberger, then extensively
renovated. It is now run by a nonprofit volunteer organization called the Newark Midland Theatre
Association.